


The Middle Road

by KawaiiKitsuneGirl



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts, Multi, Teaching, harry potter's hogwarts, it might make sense, look just try it okay, professor scamander, voldemort - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8822506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiKitsuneGirl/pseuds/KawaiiKitsuneGirl
Summary: If Dumbledore's way was the high path, and Voldemort's was the low one, then Newt's was most certainly in the middle (although he'd have liked to step farther back and just watch his creatures). As if anyone would just let that happen.“Welcome then, Professor Scamander, to your new teaching job at Hogwarts,”





	

**Author's Note:**

> so! beginning of a Newt teaches at Hogwarts, but he's teaching in the time of Harry Potter.  
> Ignore all facts about Newt not stated in the movie- I'm going my own way with this one
> 
> Random David too, I know, but bear with…there is method behind my madness. Thanks to those who have already checked out my story, love you all, and I will now update at least every Sunday, so please come back here on Sunday evening for the next chapter. Should be about this length again…pls comment anything that you want in this story!

“Mr Scamander,” Dumbledore greeted beatifically. “How nice it is to see you again,” 

“Professor, please just call me Newt,” Newt smiled awkwardly at his old teacher, tucking a strand of hair back behind his ear nervously.

Dumbledore laughed. “I’m afraid that would be disrespectful, to one who is such an acclaimed author, my dear boy,” he twinkled at the flustered man, who ducked his head in embarrassment. 

“That wasn’t my achievement though. That’s the achievement of my animals,” Newt responded quietly, perking up a little as he mentioned his companions and Dumbledore watched his young friend with a parental smile.

“Is that so?” he asked gently, and Newt nodded quickly.

“Well, if that’s the case, how would you and your animals feel about accepting a place as the Care of Magical Creatures professor?” Dumbledore offered, and Newt immediately knew that the offer was why the elder man had called him here.

“You…want me to teach? Professor, not that I want to be rude, but you do remember what happened last time I entered Hogwarts?” the gentle man checked, glancing up to meet piercing blue eyes for a moment.

“Yes, and I’d rather like it if you were able to channel that again now, but with permission,” Dumbledore laughed lightly, knowing full well of the young Scamander’s exploits with various magical creatures within the school walls.

“…why me, sir?” Newt asked after a short pause, twiddling his thumbs with his usual demure but manic energy.

“Who better?” Dumbledore told the man truthfully. It caused the other pause for a moment, as though he was considering, even though they both knew that whatever his decision was, it had been made already. Newt was impulsive like that.

“I…” he trailed off, hanging his head slightly as he swallowed the answer.

“I’d love to have you at Hogwarts again, Newt,” the elderly wizard smiled softly, eyes searching to make contact with the anxious man.

“I don’t like humans that much you know,” Newt whispered and Dumbledore grinned in triumph, eyes sparkling happily.

“So you’ll do it then?”

“…yes,” the lanky man agreed, finally looking up and sitting a little straighter. “But…I want to be able to handle all my animals on the premises,” he made as a condition, which   
Dumbledore considered momentarily.

“Okay, but within reason. You can’t severely hurt a student, or put them at great risk,” he warned Newt, who’s mouth was starting to lilt up a little at the corners.

“Of course not professor,” he said more confidently, and Albus nodded.

“Welcome then, Professor Scamander, to your new teaching job at Hogwarts,”

________________________________________

Newt closed the lid on his old suitcase with a flicker of a smile, always happiest when around his animals. The case closed with a startlingly loud creak, causing him to wince   
sharply and mutter a quick spell under his breath to get the hinges oiled and fully working again (he should really do it by hand, but there just wasn’t time today).

The baggage fit into his hand easily as Newt threw his coat on over his shoulders and 

He walked into his local bar, checking his watch quickly and noting that there was still a few hours left of the early morning before he’d even need to begin moving to catch the   
blasted train.

Newt sat down lightly on one of the bar stools, smiling graciously if a little forced at the bartender, who grinned back lopsidedly, the smile holding the ease of familiarity as he artfully span some sort of red drink across the counter, towards where Newt waited patiently.

“Thanks,” he mentioned quietly, picking up the glass and draining it easily. The dark haired guy stared solemnly at Newt, who looked back a little sheepishly. 

“You’re going somewhere, aren’t you,” the man said knowingly, his face seeming to fall a small bit in sadness.

“Yes,” Newt breathed out. David sighed, walking around the edge of the counter without any regard for the other customers, and pulled Newt close.

"You told me that it might not last," he smiled wryly, sinking his chin into the bony shoulder that he held, and felt the motion of the other as he nodded.

“I did, but I’m sorry...I’m glad to have known you though, David,” Newt offered, returning the embrace just as tightly.

"Me too, Newt Scamander. You may be a little odd, but I'll miss you," the dark haired man shrugged awkwardly, pulling out of their hug a little bit to rest his forehead on Newt's pale skin.

"It was fun, it really was," Newt smiled up at him (still finding it unfair that David was so much taller than him, every time they met). "I will come back though, you know that?" Newt soothed his now former boyfriend, well accustomed to dealing with wild animals and ways to comfort them.

In answer, the man's blue eyes searched Newt’s face, roving over every detail so that nothing would be forgotten, then he sighed lightly.

“I agree. It was a pleasure to know you," David responded slowly, leaning in just the smallest fraction further to kiss the pale red lips in front of him. Newt sniffed slightly, kissing the taller one back gently, before they both pulled away.

"I'm sorry I have to go..." Newt continued, but David just grinned cheerfully, disguising the slight glossiness to their eyes.

"Just get a move on, flame boy," he laughed off, pushing Newt away firmly and walking back around to behind the counter, smiling tenderly as the other's eyes overflowed slightly and then rolling his eyes in fondness.

"I'm not going anywhere," David told Newt, who finally smiled weakly, and walked out of the pub, brushing away his tears lightly with the back of his hand.

Merlin, he hated doing that.  
________________________________________

Newt walked onto the platform slowly, knowing that there was still a good half an hour before anything moved, and wiped his eyes quickly before pulling out his ticket.

On his shoulder, Picket stroked his neck sadly, causing him to choke and squeeze his eyelids shut for a moment before he recovered with a deep breath.

“It’s okay, Picket. I’m fine,” Newt reassured his distressed creature, who looked back at him in disbelief and settled back into the comforting position on the side of his collar.

“Look, a ticket, Picket!” the man joked weakly, brandishing the small white stub in the air (and only receiving very few odd looks, which was a little concerning considering that he was in central London).

“Nine and three quarters,” he read off lightly, wanting to share the trip with Picket- his other animals too, but they weren’t small or patient enough to come with him.

“Where’s this platform then?” the wizard teased solemnly, walking straight over to the familiar sight of the King’s Cross Barrier even as he spoke. Oddly enough, the wall didn’t   
tend to change that much- the technology of the trains had evolved over his lifetime, but the basic architecture remained the same.

It was one of the things he loved about the station.

“Alright then,” he muttered, a soft grin sneaking onto his face at the prospect of the new job ahead of him. Newt loved new experiences as much as he hated new people (but that   
wasn’t quite right either. It had never been that he disliked people- they just found him annoying and so he left them be).

He glanced around carefully, seeing that there was no one looking at the pair of them curiously, before closing his eyes lightly and strolling forwards, not afraid that the wall   
might randomly solidify and hurt him. Indeed, he emerged from the other side unharmed; into a world of noise.

There was the classic train at the station, steam blazing out of its chimney and greatly polluting the atmosphere. Newt wondered absent-mindedly if wizards even knew what   
pollution was, and what damage it was doing to creature’s habitats, then dismissed the thought with a wry smile. Of course they had no idea.

“Sorry ma’am, excuse me sir, pardon me-“ he edged his way carefully between the crowds of people, excited parents and their children just waiting for the train to go and carry   
them back to school.

“Ah! I didn’t mean to!” he cried quickly as he bumped into yet another person, he always had been one of the clumsiest people in any situation. This time a case went flying   
though, so he bent down quickly to pick up the heavy trunk, surprised to see that there was no feather-light charm on it as he finally looked up at the owner.

The boy he’d bumped into wasn’t especially tall, but had piercing green eyes that bored hard into Newt when the man stared for a second too long.

“Hello?” the student asked, not overly stand-off-ish but not exactly welcomingly either.

“Hi,” Newt grinned back nervously, very conscious of the fact that he was surrounded by crowds of people that he was meant to be figuring out how to teach at some point.

He waited for the boy to continue, hoping that his first human interaction here wasn’t going to start his day badly, when the dark haired boy gave him a distracted smile and   
strolled off down the platform.

Newt watched him go with baleful eyes. He knew that he was no good with children. What was he doing here again?

He sighed once, and cleared his mind of the toxic thoughts. Begin as he intended to go on? Newt straightened up, clutching his case a little tighter for moral support even as he   
checked that the latch was still closed (it was habit by now) and stepped up onto the slightly raised floor of the train.

Newt walked carefully down the length of the train, awkwardly glancing out of the corner of his eye into each compartment to find a free one, and eventually finding one to sit in   
about three quarters of the way down.

He stepped into the room with a sigh, closing the door quietly behind him and sinking down onto the soft cushioned seat, pulling out his wand carelessly and muttering a few   
quick-working spells that locked the door, heated the cabin and turned the glass darker until it couldn’t be seen through.

The man debated for a moment whether he should go talk to his animals then, or wait a little bit longer first.

“Picket,” Newt murmured softly to the animal, gazing down at it with an openly fond expression; the type he never gave to people since it also made him vulnerable. “Do you think   
I’m doing the right thing?”

The small bowtruckle looked back up at him with an uncaring shrug, forcing a small smile out of his master.

“You and me both,” he laughed lightly, running a finger slowly down the little creature’s silky smooth back, grinning like his usual self when Pickett shivered and nuzzled against   
his finger with a small noise of contentment. There was a reason he loved the Bowtruckle so much.

Newt stood up straight again, glancing around the compartment. Could he…

The man leapt hastily to his feet, tripping slightly as he peered through the window and noticed that they had indeed left the platform by now, and he pushed light brown hair out   
of his eyes with a grin.

He placed a battered case on the seat next to him, opening the latch easily and jumping up until he stood on the soft red cushions, wincing slightly at the footprints he could see   
he was leaving on the otherwise clean fabric, and then climbed quickly down the ladder into the case. A disembodied hand reached back out to close the lid with a muffled slam.

Everyone else ignored the darkened cabin, correctly assuming that it was already occupied, and so the briefcase remained sitting innocuously in the corner of the room as nobody else seemed to realise that other than that, the room was completely empty.

It was a good half an hour before any voices sounded outside the cabin. They were the squeaky tones of a boy not quite matured, but far from the high pitched notes of a young one, of which there were two of.

“Are you sure this is okay?” one could be heard to mumble lightly, and then silence fell for a few moments, followed by a stifled moan and rustling of clothes.

“Alohomora,” somebody intoned under their breath, the clicking of a lock falling through following the words, and suddenly the peace of the cabin was disturbed by two people   
(presumably wizards), coming in through the now open door and settling in the comfortable seats of the cabin, not seeming to care about the darkness.

Neither of them noticed the inconspicuous briefcase taking up space in the corner.


End file.
